One night after allowing six goals and suffering his first loss of the postseason, Frederic Cassivi turned aside all 38 shots he faced to lead the Hershey Bears to a 4-0 win over the Portland Pirates in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Giant Center on Sunday evening.
The Bears now own a 3-1 series lead, and are one win away from their 19th trip to the Calder Cup Finals.
Jakub Klepis broke a scoreless tie with 9:50 remaining in the second period with his first goal since Feb. 25, and Cassivi made the lead stand up until Hershey got insurance goals from Kris Beech, Dave Steckel and Jonas Johansson late in the third period.
For Steckel, who missed two periods of Saturday night’s Game 4 after taking a shot off the leg, it was his team-leading ninth playoff goal.
Cassivi’s shutout was his fourth of the postseason, dropping his goals-against average to 1.64 in 12 playoff games.
A night after allowing four power-play goals in a 6-5 double-overtime loss, Hershey went a perfect 9-for-9 on the penalty kill.
Game 5 is Tuesday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.
